Rail-joint



E. L. VAN DRESAR.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2B. 1919.

Patented July 29, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 LOAD Elam/atom autumn:

E. L. VAN DRESAR.

RAIL JJJJ T.

Summtoz w W EZ L. l afl plea'ar ELME R. L. VAN DRESAR, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNDE TO THE RAILJOINT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BAIL-JOINT.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, ELMER L. VAN DRESAR, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in rail joints, particularly of the continuous type, whereby the full clamping and supporting effect of the joint bar are conserved while there is also provided 'an effective easement for. the rail wave motion through the 'oint. 1 An important consideration in designing a rail joint. is to provide a. joint barhaving structural characteristics to effectively resist the acting and reacting forces due to the Wave motion in track, and to provide appropirate compensation for that wave motion. It is a well known fact that the engine load causes a compression'of the ties and ballast and of the underlying road bed teen-appreciable degree a substantial distance in-advance of the rail joint location. This force is first manifested in an upward bending orlifting of the rail followed. by a sudden depression, resulting in the wave motion in track, which precedes the rolling load. Accordingly, a most desirable and practical requisite for a track joint is that it shall be flexible enough to pass the 'ad Vance wave through the joint without breaking the rail within its limits, yet being sufliciently strong to resist the bending moment both upward and downward, of trains passing at the highest speeds. It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide a rail joint responding as nearly as practicable to this requisite or requirement, having particularly in V16: a provision within the rail joint which -Wlll relieve the joint, well as the rail, from the ex-' cessive strains due the upward bendin or lifting of the will as caused by'the a 7 vance wave in the track, thereby greatly minimizing the. danger of breakage of joint plates or breakage of the rail wlthm the joint.

With these and other objects in view which will be readily apparent to those familiar with the art, as the specific character of the invention is better understood, the same c nsists in the novel construction,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 29, 1919.

I Application fi1edApr1'126, 1919. Serial No. 292,855.

bar, of the continuous tyipe embodying the improvement contemplated by the present invention-showing by dotted lines the rail bearing faces. 7

Fig. 3 is an end view ofthe form of, bar

shown in Fig; 2.

Figs. 4:, 5 and 6 aresi-milar cross-sectional views lllustrating the normal relation of the bar to the rail bearing faces at different points throughout the length of the bar.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying forward the invention the im provements herein specified and claimed are particularly applicable to the well known continuous type of rail joint bar, that is, a joint bar having a rail supporting base member engaging beneath the rail base and integrally joined with an upright member fitting the fishing space of the rail and having a bearing contact withthe under side of the rail head and with the upper side of the rail flange. The exact section or shape of this bar is not material to the present invention, nor the particular distribution of metal therein, as the particular feature of improvement upon which this application is predicated is primarily intended to be associated with a rail joint bar comprising, generally, an upright member 1 having an upper head portion 2 for engaging beneath the rail head, a foot flange 3 which overlies and contacts with the rail flange, and an integral inwardly extending rail supporting base member 4. As found in the continuous bar this base member l underlies and engages the base of the rail and combines with the inclining foot flange 3 to provide therebetween the flange hold ing groove 5 for the base flange of the rail.

As above indicated. the resent invention contemplates fully preserving all of the desirable features and functions of the coutinu.

, easement surfaces ous bar whereby the full clamping and railsupporting effect of the-bar will be maintamed in service, while the addedfeature of improvement will permit of a free wave motion through the joint so as to relieve, to

the greatest extent possible, the strain-on the top chord of the bar-due to the reflex action.

Also to ease the strain on the rail flange due to the upward wave motion which is communicated to the rail end.

The base supporting type of, rail joint, .to which the present invention is applied, em-

bodies in its general organization the head.

2 provided at the top thereof with the cen trally located permanent rail engaging hearing surface A, and at opposite sides of the said permanent bearing surface with the inclined rail-clearance easement surfaces BB which incline downwardly from the central surface A to the end of the bar. The term permanent is applied to the central rail ment surfaces BB along the end portions of the bar are normally out of contact with the under sides of the heads of the rail, but permit downward flexing of the rails Within at end portions of the joint to accommodate the rails to the downward movement of the wave. Thus, it will be noted, from another structural aspect, that a bar having the permanent and clearance surfaces A and B respectively, will be of full section andfishing height at its center but of reduced section and fishing height at the end portions thereof thereby adapting the bar to one phase of the wave motion of the track.

As a necessary complement to the surface formation at'the top of the joint bar, the.

upper side of the base member 4 thereof is correspondingly formed. That is to say, the

base member is provided at its intermediate or central portion with the upper permanent rail engaging bearing surface C which permanently and flatly engages the'under side of the rail bases, and at opposite sides of said intermediate or central surface C-with the sloping or downwardly inclining rail clearance easement surfaces DD. These easement surfaces D D incline or slope downwardly from the central permanent bearing surface C toward the ends of the joint bar and thereby accommodate the same downward easement for the rails within the ends of the joints, as parovided for by the top B along the end portions of the bar As a further complement of the permanent and clearance easement surfaces referred to, the present invention involves the distinctive improvement f P viding the foot flange 3, at its under side, wlth an intermediate or centrally located upwardly dished rail clearance easement rel cess or space E. The centrally located easement recess E is disposed within a vertical plane intersecting the permanent bearing surface Aat the top of the bar and the permanent bearing surface C at the top of the rail supporting base member, and at opposite sides of said central easement recess or clearance space E the under sides of the foot flange 3, (forming the top wall of the flange.

groove or way 5) is provided with the per- 'manently-enga-ged rail-engaging bearing surfaces F which have a bearing engagement orcontact with the upper side of the rail flange and maintain the generally level or horizontal.characteristic common to perma nent rail-engaging or rail-contacting surfaces.

The depth of the recess or clearance E is properly proportioned to the extent of the clearance made by the surfaces B-B and D-D so that proper freedom is permitted for the wave motion of the rail in the joint,

so as to relieve both the rail and joint bars from the excessive strains due to the well known pumping action caused by the track w-ave'which precedes the engine load. And, in that connection, it will have been observed that the upwardly dished recess or clearance E is located precisely at the center of the joint where the ends of the rails are disposed, thereby accommodating the upward movement of the rail base as the rail end bends or lifts upwardly dueflto the first impulse of the engine load as indicated .by the diagrammatic illustration of Fig. 1,

while at the same time not interfering with the reflex action of the downward wave motion when the rail end takes its seat 'on the permanent rail supporting bearing surfaces parent to those familiar with the art with .out further description, and it will be understood that changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.

I claim 1. A rail joint bar having rail head clearance toward its ends, and a rail flange clearance at the central part of the under-side of its foot flan e.

2. .A contlnuous type rail joint bar having rail head clearance at the end portions thereof and a central rail flange clearance at the underside of its foot flange.

3. A continuous type rail joint bar having centrally located permanent rail engaging bearing surfa es at the top of its head and at the upper side of its base member, and with rail clearance easement surfaces extending toward the ends from said permanent surfaces, said bar also having a centrally disposed rail flange clearance in the underside of its foot flange. c

4. A continuous type rail joint bar having centrally located permanent 'bearing surfaces respectively at the top of its head, and at the upper side of its base member, and with rail clearance easement surfaces extending toward the ends of the bar from said permanent surfaces, said bar being further provided with an upwardly dished easement recess or clearance in the central portion of the underside of the foot flange.

5. A continuous type rail joint bar provided with permanent rail engaging bearing surfaces centrally of the top of the head and the upper side of the base member and along the end portions of the underside of the foot flange, the foot flange being further provided at the central part of its underside with an upwardly dished easement recess or space.

6. A rail joint bar having a foot flange provided centrally at the underside thereof with a clearance portion permitting easement for the upward wave motion of the rail ends within the joint.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELMER L. VAN DRESAR.

Witnesses ALICE L. SCHMIDT, J. WHIT TIMMONS. 

